From Ruidoso News/USA Today
Lease sales generated $5,487,142
May 2018 oil and gas lease sales on state trust lands generated $5,487,142, bringing the Fiscal Year 2018 total to $102,222,238, New Mexico Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn announced this week. That figure eclipses the previous single-year record of $101,991,251 collected in FY2012.
With one month and another lease sale still to come before the close of FY2018, Dunn was all smiles after May’s results were tallied.
“This is fantastic news for the State Land Office and its beneficiaries,” he said. “New Mexico is fast-becoming one of largest the oil producing hotspots in the world and it’s the children of the state who will benefit most from these record revenues.”
Beneficiaries of the May 2018 lease sale and their respective earnings are Common Schools, $4,766,000; University of New Mexico: $150,000; Miner’s Colfax Medical Center, $343,042; and Territorial Improvements to the Rio Grande, $228,100.
Dunn offered nine tracts covering 2,550 acres in Lea, Eddy and Chaves counties. Total high bids of $5,487,142 came from five bidders for an average per acre price of $2,152. A total of 23 bidders from seven states registered for the May sale.
The monthly sales are conducted online in sealed and open bidding formats. Fort Worth, Texas-based Chisholm Energy was the top bidder in the sealed format bidding, acquiring 313.48 acres at $10,207.99 per acre for a total cost of $3.2 million. Dakota Resources submitted the highest bid in the open format, leasing 320 acres at $2.500.31 per acre for a total cost of $800,100.
“With 92 percent of this agency’s revenues derived from oil and gas, it should be crystal clear to everyone how vitally important these resources are to education in New Mexico,” Dunn said. “With continued responsible management of State Trust Lands, the future for New Mexico’s schoolchildren looks very bright indeed.”
Oil and gas lease sale earnings are paid into the Land Maintenance Fund, which covers the State Land Office’s operating expenses. The agency is entirely self-funded and spends about three cents of every dollar it earns. The remaining revenue is distributed directly to the beneficiaries to supplement their operating budgets. Public school monies are paid into the state’s General Fund and distributed to each school district as appropriated by the Legislature.
Oil, gas, and mineral production, ranching and farming, and commercial development on state trust lands support public schools, seven universities, New Mexico Military Institute, New Mexico School for the Deaf, New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, three hospitals, correctional facilities, water conservation projects, and public building construction and repair. In fiscal year 2017, the State Land Office collected $664 million from lease payments, oil and gas lease sale earnings, rights-of-way, permits, interest, fees, and oil, gas, and mineral royalties.
